Epic Travel → Europe → Iceland → Southern Iceland → Merkurker

Location: Thórsmörk, Southern Iceland

Time Required: 1- 2 hours (not including drive time in and out of Thórsmörk)

Red Tape/Notes: This is one of several stops you can make while visiting Thórsmörk; the area is best accessed using a high clearance 4-wheel drive or Super Jeep, though it may occasionally be passable in late September and October in typical rental 4-wheel drives (Dacia Dusters). Small local company Into the Wild offers a lovely tour if you’re in the market for a guide (and their jeep). However, this isn’t required to reach Merkurker if you’re determined to go and don’t mind getting a little wet – it’s on the far side of the first river crossing, so if you don’t have an appropriate vehicle, you could definitely drive to the crossing, park, and cross the river on foot.

What’s Nearby?: Seljalandsfoss, Gljúfrabúi, Thórsmörk, Gígjökull, Fimmvörðuháls, Stakkholtsgjá, Mossy Lava Rocks

Merkurker is a great little spot; most images you’ll see online are of the “cave”, which is accessed by walking directly up the river, but if you hike up to the right side of the river, you’ll have some nice views in various directions and can crawl into some cool fissures and caves. You can then climb down to the river near the mouth of the fissure. The interior is so dark you’ll think you’re in a cave, but if you continue upriver a short distance (you’ll need a headlamp to do this – it’s dark and there are rocks and boulders everywhere), you’ll emerge out the back side of the rock. If you climbed the rocks on the right side, you can look up at there area where you were – in fact, if you can safely pull it off (we didn’t do this because everything was covered in ice, but it seems possible in better conditions), you could do a loop dropping over the back side of the rocks and then hike out via the cave/tunnel. Another trail starts on the left bank of the river and travels along a ridge, leading steeply up and providing great views below. These views for us included a Dacia Duster stuck at the first river crossing (it was, in fact, the third (!!) vehicle to get stuck in the short time we spent at Merkurker). We headed down from the ridge and went to pull out the hapless and imprudent tourists.

Epic Travel → Europe → Iceland → Southern Iceland → Merkurker